Mighty Etruscan centre and important mediaeval city after that, Perugia guards lovingly precious traces of its luminous historical periods. The city is today the administrative and cultural capital of the Umbria Region, a major tourist and cultural destination, site of the University for over 700 years. The historical Academy of Fine Arts, the Music Conservatorium, and its University for Foreigners, with students coming from all over the world, define furthermore the marked international vocation.
Culturally and socially bright and lively, Perugia is a city full of “secrets” to disclose: the suggestion is to explore it with curiosity to fully appreciate the excitement and fascination of discovery.
The real entrance to Perugia is the Rocca Paolina, an historical-architectural complex unique in its kind, “enclosure” of the mediaeval city hidden inside. Going through it thanks to the escalators, between historical remnants and contemporary suggestions, you get to the heart of the city, cosy lounge of the city where citizens and tourists today love to gather as in the past the several visitors of the Grand Tour.
Starting a visit, the city suggests various itineraries that, in their paths, reassemble, as in an ideal book, the many passages of the Italian and European history. From the XIII century Fontana Maggiore begins an enchanting itinerary of the historic centre, rich in treasures, which will bring to the discovery of the excellences, of a city that will never cease to surprise: museums, churches, palaces, mediaeval towers beyond significate modern and contemporary witnesses.
Five are the districts, spreading out almost as if they were the fingers of a hand, to be visited: a series of ups and downs, roads and streets, alleys and stairways, underground pathways and unusual and picturesque views of luminous landscapes coming across proud fragments of the beautiful Etruscan-Roman and mediaeval city walls.
To visit Perugia means living a unique multi-sensory experience: rich public and private museums, artistic craft workshops, the delicateness of a typical cuisine worth of a regenerating stop in front of enchanting views in the Umbrian valley, wholly feeling the peculiarities of a city still on a human scale.
Perugino, Pinturicchio and Raphael, the contemporary art of Burri and Beuys will accompany you through the sounds of Umbria Jazz, and of the Sagra Musicale Umbra, of the rich theatrical season held in the jewels of the city: from the Teatro Morlacchi, to the eighteenth-century Teatro del Pavone, or the many small experimental theatres, even the open air in the little squares and the ancient neighbourhoods and the many libraries in happy opportunities of meetings and debates.
The openness and dialogue among different cultures and religions testify to the civil conscience of the society: but Perugia will never fail to surprise also because it is good at playing, with chocolate as well as with imagination. It is possible to stroll around the city meeting Braccio Fortebracci during the days of Perugia 1416, the moment when History comes alive and everybody can get the feeling of living it!
Secluded, and for this reason authentic, Perugia provides tourists, students and visitors a stimulating experience in all seasons of the year, a smiling and intelligent glance at the history and modernity of this city of art offering a portrait of the best Italy.
Welcome Perugia